Alan Levinovitz

And if we align with nature, then we will be healthy and happy.

And if we don't align with nature, then that explains all of our suffering.

And so what I do in Natural

is I show how that plays out in so many contexts, not just health, but in economic theories.

We should use natural markets, for example, this idea that somehow there's a force that organizes everything harmoniously if only we didn't interfere with it.

Oh my gosh, where does it not crop up?

So childbirth.

as a really good example.

And actually, let me zoom in on childbirth because I think I went into this really cynical about naturalness of why are people so into natural?

But when I interviewed many, many mothers who had opted for natural childbirth, they would start by giving scientific reasons.

They'd talk about, you know, dangers in hospitals or bonding with the child or whatever, you name it.

And they would cite studies.

Because that's the currency of truth right now.

But when I continued to talk with them, they would say things like, well, also, I just, I wanted to be at home.

I wanted to feel in control of my birth.

I didn't want to give birth in some sort of hospital where it feels like there's nothing special or holy about this ritual of giving birth.

And I was like, wow, yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense.

The problem is that

In order to justify choices like, I wanted to do something that feels beautiful or feels sacred to me, because those sorts of values aren't allowed in the kind of public square, people kept having to shift naturalness into a kind of scientific argument.

So I think part of the problem actually is that people want to do things because it makes them feel freer, or it makes them feel more empowered, or they think it's beautiful.